With the increasing popularity of streaming audio and video over networks, such as the Internet, there is a need for optimizing data transfer so that the client experience can be maximized. If the data transfer is not optimized, frames can be lost resulting in glitching or pausing of the streamed content.
The term “streaming” is typically used to indicate that the data representing the media is provided by a host computer over a network to a playback device (i.e., a media playback computer implemented as any of a variety of conventional computing devices, such as a desktop PC, a notebook or portable computer, a cellular telephone or other wireless communication device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming console, etc.) The client computer typically renders the streaming content as it is received from the host, rather than waiting for the entire file to be delivered.
Webpages being viewed using browsers often provide content supplemented with the option for inline video streaming. Thus, a written story (i.e., content) can be supplemented with a video teaser including a play button. If the user selects the teaser, a video plays while the content is being viewed. Typically, if the user continues to scroll the content, the video scrolls off of the viewable area of the user interface. At that point, the video can be heard, but not seen. A user is thereby prevented from watching the video and reading the content, which lessens the overall user experience. On mobile phones, the screen space is too limited to allow the user to view video and content simultaneously. Consequently, selecting the video typically results in a full-screen video mode wherein only video can be viewed, without content.
In typical systems for viewing content, a media engine decodes content from a network and passes the content to a browser engine. The browser engine then serially passes the content to a renderer. The renderer treats written content and video content the same. Thus, scrolling a page of content results in the video being scrolled off the viewable screen area. The system includes multiple layers of buffering that restricts the ability to efficiently render the streaming. As such, mobile devices often lose frames, which can frustrate users.
Enhancements in video streaming in a browser are desirable to maximize the user experience and allow the user to efficiently consume content.